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To: angelo
XeniaSt> Berasheet bara Elohiem (Aleph Tav or Alpha Omega) .......... In the beginning G-d(s) the Alpha & Omega created from nothing the heaven and earth....... Do I read that right?
angelo> Close, but no cigar:
Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets.
"In the beginning God created heaven and earth."

Elohim is not properly translated 'God(s)'.
1125 posted on 10/18/01 10:38 PM Mountain by angelo

Sorry.
There were two questions in one posting.

1) There seems to be some confusion over Elohim by some commentators.
Could you illuminate the difference between the singular and plural endings.

2) I want to draw your attention to the untranslated aleph and tau between "G-d"and "the heaven".

This also occurs in Zechariah 12:10 between "look on me" and "whom they have pierced"

Tehillim (Psalm) 78:35 They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

XeniaSt

1,211 posted on 10/19/2001 8:33:57 AM PDT by Uri’el-2012
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To: XeniaSt
1) There seems to be some confusion over Elohim by some commentators. Could you illuminate the difference between the singular and plural endings.

Elohim is as you know only one of the names used for God in the Torah. This is not used as a plural form, even though it superficially resembles one. Evidence for this can be found elsewhere in the Torah. Consider Exodus 7:1:

Vayomer Adonay el-Moshe re'eh netaticha Elohim le-Far'oh ve'Aharon achicha yihyeh nevi'echa.
God said to Moses, 'Observe! I will be making you like a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

The passage refers to God making Moses Elohim to Pharaoh. Does this mean that there was a plurality of persons in Moses?

Furthermore, if Elohim is plural, then why would YHWH (by the the most frequently used name for God in the Tanakh) also not be written in a plural form?

That Elohim is singular in meaning is clear from the fact that the verb for "created" (bara) in Genesis 1:1 is singular.

Elohim is not the only word with a 'plural' ending but a singular meaning. Another common word like this is chayim, meaning 'life'. Consider:

You have granted me life (chayim) and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit. (Job 10:12)

Now clearly Job is not claiming that God granted him multiple lives.

1,228 posted on 10/19/2001 9:17:16 AM PDT by malakhi
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